diff --git a/lib/checkmemoryleak.cpp b/lib/checkmemoryleak.cpp
index 7876256d2..d3f402bd3 100644
--- a/lib/checkmemoryleak.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkmemoryleak.cpp
@@ -386,6 +386,9 @@ CheckMemoryLeak::AllocType CheckMemoryLeak::functionReturnType(const Function* f
         if (Token::Match(tok, "[(,] & %varid% [.,)]", varid)) {
             return No;
         }
+        if (Token::Match(tok, "[;{}] %varid% .", varid)) {
+            return No;
+        }
         if (allocType == No && tok->str() == "return")
             return No;
     }
diff --git a/test/testmemleak.cpp b/test/testmemleak.cpp
index aac5f5c4d..0d09d6d7d 100644
--- a/test/testmemleak.cpp
+++ b/test/testmemleak.cpp
@@ -2575,6 +2575,20 @@ private:
               "    char* s = data();\n"
               "}");
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
+
+        // #5144
+        check("C* BuildC( C *previous ) {\n"
+              "  C *result = malloc(100);\n"
+              "  result->previous = previous;\n"
+              "  return result;\n"
+              "}\n"
+              "C *ParseC( ) {\n"
+              "  C *expr1 = NULL;\n"
+              "  while( something() )\n"
+              "    expr1 = BuildC(expr1);\n"
+              "  return expr1;\n"
+              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
 
     void allocfunc8() {